Is it a good thing the Detroit Lions are everybody’s underdogs again?

The Detroit Lions will enter the 2019 season with almost all the media picking them to have another disappointing season, but maybe that’s a good thing.

The Detroit Lions haven’t exactly inspired confidence in their ability to build a winner over the last 60 years. As a matter of fact, they have become an easy crutch for lazy media types to just identify this franchise with losing and give them no more thought.

So with that in mind, is it a good thing the Lions are being picked to finish behind over half the high school teams in the state, much less the bottom of the NFL?

Sometimes sports can be like politics. Some members of the varying branches of the government get by on name recognition alone. When the elections roll around many citizens do their patriotic duty and show up at the polls to vote. However, while many do make sure they vote, they have not done their homework, have no idea who most of the candidates are, and therefore vote by name recognition alone.  It’s the easy, lazy way to do it.

The media often does the same thing when they make their preseason selections. They sit down with pen in hand and use their own brand of name recognition elimination to decide who will win each division and eventually the Super Bowl.

For 60  years the Detroit Lions have given the media virtually no reason for this franchise to be identified with greatness. The only possible exception would be during the Barry Sanders years because he was so popular among the fans and media, many of which couldn’t name another Lion to save their life, that they would either pick the Lions for last place, but empty their bag of superlatives about how great Barry was or they actually did their homework hoping that maybe the organization had finally secured the help Barry needed to be a champion.